Recent immigration law is intended to direct the U.S. legal immigration flow somewhat more toward professionals and skilled labor. Historically, labor provisions of immigration laws have been based on occupational (skill) needs of the labor market, while protecting the employment opportunities and wages of “similar” domestic workers. This paper examines the relative earnings of college educated immigrants. The regression results indicate lack of difference in returns to education and U.S. labor market experience between natives and immigrants. The endowment effect and the residual difference are 3 percent in favor of immigrants and 7 percent in favor of natives, respectively.
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